US #3145
1997 Vince Lombardi – Football Coaches
- Honors one of the greatest US football coaches of all time
- Also issued in single design pane of 20 with red line
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Legendary Football Coaches
Value: 32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: August 7, 1997
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US #3145
1997 Vince Lombardi – Football Coaches
- Honors one of the greatest US football coaches of all time
- Also issued in single design pane of 20 with red line
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Legendary Football Coaches
Value: 32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: August 7, 1997
First Day City: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Quantity Issued: 20,000,000
Printed by: Printed for Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. by Sterling Sommer, Tonawanda, New York
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Panes of 20 (Horizontal, 4 across, 5 down)
Perforations: 11.1
Tagging: Large tagging block over all 20 stamps, covering the stamps to the edges.
Why the stamp was issued: To commemorate one of the greatest US football coaches in history: Vince Lombardi.
About the stamp design: The stamp pictures a design by artist Daniel Moore. It pictures coach Lombardi being with his fist in the air, being hoisted up by his players. The artwork was based on a United Press International photograph taken after the Green Bay Packers won the 1967 NFL championship. Moore added the detail of two players raising their index fingers in the “number one” gesture to represent the Packers’ victories in Super Bowls I and II with Lombardi as their coach.
First Day City: The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
About the Legendary Football Coaches set: A four-stamp set picturing some of US sports history’s greatest football coaches: Paul “Bear” Bryant, Glenn “Pop” Warner, Vince Lombardi, and George Halas. All designs picture art by Daniel Moore. The stamps picture each coach in a different setting based on reference photographs and other sources. The pane of 20 includes a header with the words “Football Coaches” appearing in a type suggesting letters on a chalkboard written by a coach drawing out plays in the locker room.
History the stamp represents: One of the most successful coaches in NFL history, Vince Lombardi became a national symbol of single-minded determination to win. Believing that “winning isn’t everything… but wanting to win is,” he embodied the ideals of honest-to-goodness hard work and reward.
Born in New York City, Lombardi graduated in 1936 from Fordham University where he was one of a group of linemen known as the “Seven Blocks of Granite.” He went on to study law, briefly played minor league professional football, and coached high school football before returning in 1947 to Fordham where he served as an assistant football coach until 1948. From 1949 to 1954, Lombardi served as coach for the US Military Academy, and from 1954 to 1958, he coached offense for the New York Giants.
In 1959, he was hired as head coach for the Green Bay Packers – a team well acquainted with defeat. But his striking character aroused confidence in his players and reinforced a belief in the power to overcome obstacles. Lombardi coached the Packers from 1959 to 1968, during which time he led the team to six divisional championships, five NFL championships, and victories in the first and second Super Bowls. In 1971, he was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.
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